Christmas Under Assault: Dumping the Christmas Tree for a ‘Family Tree’

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a further erosion of our American traditions and holidays, Lowe’s Hardware stores has decided that they aren’t in the business of selling Christmas trees anymore. They have decided, instead, that the big seller for 2007 will be the erstwhile “Family Tree” — that Christmas thingie being so gauche and offensive and all, you see. In fact, in their 2007 holiday catalog, Lowes uses the word Christmas a grand total of two times. And on their website, the tree listings all avoid the word in their descriptions.

Take a look at the first page of their “Family Tree” section in their new print catalog:

One of their tree products is even upside down for some unfathomable reason. Described as the “Holiday Living 7.5′ Pre-lit Switchit Cashmere Hard Needle Bavarian Fir tree,” this tree has what is generally the top of the tree affixed to the stand so that the wide base is what ends up in the air.

I suppose this might be considered funny by some and might be a novel thing to have to such folks, but it certainly does not evoke the Christmas spirit and absolutely doesn’t run along traditional, nor respectful, lines.

Now, obviously this is a simple business decision made by Lowe’s made in order to keep the militant atheists off their backs. Who can doubt that the Lowe’s folks are doing their best to avoid the costly nuisance lawsuits so commonly filed by these anti-American trouble makers? After all, Lowe’s is a large Corporation, but their pockets aren’t so deep that they can afford such idiotic lawsuit filings — efforts that prove we should have a “losers pay all fees” system instead of what we now have. In a way, one can sympathize with Lowe’s for making the effort to avoid the trouble those hateful of American traditions and religions cause these days. It almost makes smart business sense… at least smart where it concerns the legal department.

But is it the sort of thing that we want America to be? Do we want to cast aside our entire history, our traditions and ideals just to avoid a lawsuit instituted by a tiny but loud minority? When do we stand up and say “enough is enough”? When do we find politicians with the guts to pass tort reform legislation? When do we find politicians who will appoint judges who are interested in the law as opposed to activism and getting themselves in the newspapers? How long are we to put up with this nonsense? How long do we turn our faces away while people with ideas antithetical to America run rampant throughout our courts and halls of government?

It is time to stop this, America.

Christmas has been under assault for the better part of a decade, now, and obviously with this Lowe’s decision to avoid the word Christmas altogether, as well as renaming their Christmas trees, “Family Trees” we can see that the holiday season for 2007 will serve us no respite from that assault on our American traditions.

For its part, Lowe’s is claiming that the original printing of the “Family tree” catalog was a mistake. They told the American Family Association the following:

Randy, Thanks for taking my call this morning. Let me reiterate my apology that we had an advertising error that created a stir. Here’s a statement that we’d appreciate your posting on your web site, if possible:

Lowe’s has contacted the AFA and assures us that it is proudly committed to selling Christmas trees this year, as it has done for more than 60 years. The company apologized for the confusion created in its 2007 holiday catalog when it headlined the page of Christmas trees “family trees.” The error was not caught before the publication was distributed, and Lowe’s says it is disappointed in the breakdown in its proofing process.

Lowe’s assures us that they refer to trees as Christmas trees in this season’s television and magazine ads and in its advertising flyers. The company says it is redoubling its efforts to proof its catalogs in the future to prevent this issue from recurring.

We appreciate Lowe’s for listening to its customers and responding appropriately to our concerns.

Be that as it may — and it is certainly hard to believe, it is far more likely they are hedging their bets both ways — Christmas is still under attack if not by direct, anti-Christian design, then by the cultural neglect born of the legal department by many of our corporations. The fact that they are merely doing it for their own protection does not make it any less an erosion of our culture and traditions.

Get ready, folks. The “Holidays” are a comin’, just don’t expect to hear much about “Christmas,” though.
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Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, men’snewsdaily.com and americandaily.com among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a guest on several radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston


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